What does 2 Kings 19:17 Mean?

Context Summary

That bowed form of King Hezekiah, kneeling before God with this insolent and blasphemous effusion spread out before him, is a beautiful suggestion of our duty under similar circumstances. When we receive letters of rebuke and unkindness, whether they are signed or anonymous, let us treat them as Hezekiah treated this one. Let us spread them before God, and plead with Him to interpose for His holy Name's sake. How blessed it is when our lot is so identified with God's that we can forget ourselves in the one sincere desire that His character shall be vindicated and His Name honored! The selfish element has been so strong in our praying and doing!

In all Scripture there is nothing finer than the magnificent answer to Sennacherib's challenge which God gave through Isaiah. The phrase, "virgin daughter," fittingly indicates that the foreign invader was not to set his foot in the Holy City. Listen to her gleeful laughter, as strong in the Lord of hosts, she derides her foes, 2 Kings 19:21, etc. But that faith may be ours. Others who have not made God their trust are like the green herb that withers in the drought: but they who are planted in God send their roots deep down to the moist earth and draw perennial freshness and strength. [source]

Chapter Summary: 2 Kings 19

¹  Hezekiah, in mourning, sends to Isaiah to pray for them
⁶  Isaiah comforts them
⁸  Sennacherib, going to encounter Tirhakah, sends a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah
¹⁴  Hezekiah's prayer
²⁰  Isaiah's prophecy of the destruction of Sennacherib, and the good of Zion
³⁵  An angel slays the Assyrians
³⁶  Sennacherib is slain by his own sons